The Greatest Artists Not Known as Prince

Image via

As a producer of quality street funk, I owe a lot to Prince. His parade of albums is a constant source of inspiration, and I’m obviously not alone in his army of followers dedicated to serving this funk machine.

But we can’t all stand beside the master, and in the 35 years since For You he’s inspired countless musicians. It’s hard to imagine what it would have felt like to create music beside him in the 80s, and despite the intimidation, some of them did a pretty good job.

It’s too bad no one remembers most of them, but there are worse fates than being eclipsed by the Princesun. I hope you enjoy this tribute to my favourite Prince clones of all time. (And by all time, I mean the 80s).

Jak, I Go Wild

There’s not a lot of info on this Jak, he released his debut album I Go Wild in 1985 and it pretty much did nothing. I somehow stumbled across him on the YouTube and I have to say, I was pretty damn impressed. The drum programming and synth parts are pure Minneapolis sound, and his rhythm guitar playing is particular excellent.

Lyrically it’s pretty standard, but there are a few gems in the tune “Don’t Make me wait”. I can’t help but feel that this possibly had something to do with his lack of success:

“You’re just a teen but I just really want you so

I guess now I’m just out of control

I want you close, closer and closer

I’ve got something that I want you to know

I don’t need to rush things cos my feeling run away

When I look into your pretty eyes

Let me be the one that you make love to tonight

Girl I’m so very lonely and it this feels so right

Don’t make me wait

I don’t know how much longer I just

Hate it when you’re not here at night

Please don’t make me wait

I know its kind of fast

But I got to have you baby

Gotta have you tonight

Jesse Johnson, I Wanna be your Man

The guitarist with the master touch, Jesse Johnson played with The Time and spent a boatload of time with the little master learning the art of body heat. In the early formative years of Prince, The Time was a real threat and in some instances put out more heat than the Revolution. I’m a big fan of the 1985 album Jesse Johnson’s Revue.

Shalamar, Dancing In the Sheets

This was tailor made for the popular television progam Soul Train and was apparently the originators of the moonwalk.

Dancing In the Sheets is pretty damn close to 1999—perhaps a cleaner and more sterile version. It still packs a punch and I really like the programmed synth bass and snare/tom collabo. Check it out.

André Cymone, Satisfaction

I reckon André is responsible for a lot of Prince’s heat. In the early days Prince lived in André’s basement and together they learned the art of funk. After leaving Prince’s band in 1981, André went on to start his solo career. Here’s a snippet of his optimism.

He went on to make three albums: Livin’ in the New Wave, Survivin’ in the 80’s and AC. There is a fair deal of heat in these albums, but like most of the class of 1985 he was unable to topple the royal throne.

Bootsy Collins, Body Slam

Bootsy is a man who needs no introduction. The amount of conceptions that can be chalked up to Bootsy’s heat would be astronomical. Bootsy was on the scene causing millions of involuntary hip thrusts before Prince was in diapers. His schooling with the Godfather enabled him to not only revolutionize the bass, but also take funk to a new level.

Fast-forward to 1982 and Bootsy and Rick James found themselves competing with the new kid on the block. Bootsy was pressured by Warner Bros to start writing hits like Prince and he responded with this little gem.

Although not a commercial success, I think this track has a fire danger level of catastrophic. Enjoy.

Follow Donny on Twitter: @DonnyBenet